1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to assemblies and apparatus that aid in teaching confidence and skills which are required to ski at levels and particularly at an intermediate or advanced level.
2. The Relevant Technology
Historically, skiing skills, including but not limited to the hockey stop, slide slip, skid, christy turn, parallel turn, aerial turn, and mogul top turn, have been taught on the ski slopes. These techniques are taught after the skier has advanced beyond traditionally accepted beginner techniques like the gliding wedge and snowplow stop. If techniques like the hockey stop, parallel turn and slide slip could effectively be taught first then the old method of relying on the wedge and snowplow to initiate new skiers hopefully would be discarded.
Most ski schools teach the wedge and snowplow first because they are easy to learn, they effectively control the skier's speed on gentle beginner slopes, and almost everyone can do it after a few attempts. However, at higher speed and on steeper slopes where the majority of recreational and competition skiing occurs, these methods do not allow for quick stops and maneuvering.
Another problem with teaching the wedge and snowplow to beginning skiers is that these techniques become a crutch which the skiers come to trust and rely on at the expense of moving to more advanced and practical ski techniques. By first teaching skiers more advanced techniques in a controlled and safe environment, the skier is able to more quickly advance beyond the beginning level and enjoy the sport.
When new skiers stand at the top of even mildly sloping hills, their initial and primary concerns are to (1) avoid injury, and (2) to be able to stop whenever they want to or need to stop.
Because more advanced stopping and turning techniques generally require much more complex balance and motion skills, ski instructors almost always resort to first teaching the wedge and snowplow in order to gradually introduce new skiers to the sport. This can actually be a negative learning experience because the skier gets in the bad habit of using the inside edge of the uphill ski in order to do the wedge or snowplow maneuver. This habit becomes very ingrained if the skier uses it for several days and becomes a major stumbling block when trying to learn more advanced techniques like the hockey stop or parallel turn. If the inside edge of the uphill ski is used or inadvertently catches the snow during a hockey stop or parallel turn, the skier will almost always be thrown off balance.
Skiing is one of the only sports in which the methods that are first taught are not actually required fundamentals of the sport. For example, in basketball some of the fundamentals are dribbling, passing and shooting and in football they are passing, blocking and tackling. When people learn how to play basketball or football they are generally taught these fundamentals on the first day.
When people go to professional basketball games they see players dribbling, passing and shooting and at football games they see passing, blocking and tackling because these are true fundamentals of the respective sports. On the other hand, a professional skier does not normally perform a wedge or a snowplow operation. The only time anyone ever sees a wedge or snowplow operation is when someone is an inexperienced skier or has maintained this bad habit, often to the detriment of learning more advanced skills. Therefore, the wedge and snowplow techniques should be considered teaching methods and not necessary fundamentals of the sport.
The wedge and snowplow are desirable teaching methods because they can be taught in a stationary position on level terrain and only involve the simple action of putting the ski tips together, pushing the ankles apart, and bringing the knees together. After this awkward position is learned, the skier maintains it for slowing velocity.
Turning is accomplished by simple shifting weight from one ski to the other ski. In the wedge position, turning is a simple one step process of shifting weight, and stopping is a simple one step process of pushing the ankles further apart thus making the inside edge of both skis bite harder into snow. The wedge and snowplow can be effectively used at an extremely slow speed; a particular advantage for teaching skiing since most beginners want to ski slowly as they become acclimated to the sport.
The more effective advanced techniques like the hockey stop do not work at extremely slow speeds. To effectively turn or slip one's skis from a position parallel to the direction of travel to a position perpendicular to the direction of travel, the skier has to have a higher velocity than is desirable to most beginning skiers who often feel uncomfortable with even moderate speed or lack confidence to maintain such speed. Also, maneuvering with the hockey stop and other skills and techniques requiring sliding the skis sideways involves a much more complicated multi-step shifting of balance and force than the single step process involved in turning or stopping with the wedge.
Because of the effectiveness and greater control exhibited by the advanced skiing techniques such as the hockey stop, it is desirable to get skiers to this level as soon as possible. Furthermore, it would be desirable to reduce or eliminate the amount of time spent teaching the teaching methods of the wedge and snowplow because of their inherent drawbacks.
Harnesses attached to overhead track have been used to maintain body balance as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,478,004 to Newell, Aug. 20, 1945 and to assist ambulatory patients as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,663 to Pettit, Dec. 25, 1973. The overhead track concept as been used for acrobatic training in figure skating as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,175 to Shamp, Oct. 18, 1983.
Harness devices have also been used in skiing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,318 to Massa, Jan. 21, 1975 includes a harness which is attached to a cable system suspended above a ski run. Furthermore, the system has a braking mechanism at the end of the run which stops the skier.
The major advantage of the Massa invention as stated by the inventor is that an untrained skier is protected from injury and can ski with ease of mind. However that ease of mind only lasts as long as the skier is in the harness and attached to the cable. As soon as he tries the similar run with no automatic braking system at the end, the skier has no ease of mind. The ability to attain high speeds in a secure environment does not produce lasting ease of mind. Permanent ease of mind is obtained with a learned ability to quickly stop at higher speeds without any external assistance. The quickest method of stopping is the hockey stop and once this technique is acquired other intermediate and advanced techniques can quickly be learned with vastly increased confidence.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,575 to Forjot, Oct. 8, 1985 includes a harness which is suspended from an overhead rail system. The device includes a braking mechanism which is activated when the skier falls. The skier moves around under the overhead rails from which the harness is suspended. However, the harness cannot support any of the skier's weight as new skills are learned because as soon as any weight is applied to the harness the brake is activated.
One disadvantage of the Forjot device is that it does not allow partial suspension of a skier's weight. It would be advantageous to have a harness partially support the skier throughout a new maneuver so that loss of balance does not result in total loss of control. For example, if a skier is trying to learn a hockey stop and if the maneuver is allowed to continue even after a partial loss of balance, subsequent attempts could be adjusted until balance is maintained on the skis without any dependance on the harness.